Marcel Soares Santos, a University of Michigan astrophysicist who was not involved in the study, conceded that while this is preliminary evidence, the results are compelling. “This is something the community has hoped for a long time,” he said, adding that independent measurements from other pulsar time collaborations support the findings.
However, dr. Soares-Santos said it was too early to know what effect these background gravitational waves would have on future research. If the signal does come from the slow internal spiral of a supermassive black hole, as some NANOGrav collaborators believe, it will improve scientists’ understanding of how early galaxies merged, forming larger star and dust systems that eventually settled into complexes. structure observed today.
But if the ripples came from the Big Bang, they might instead provide insight into the expansion of the universe or the nature of dark matter — the invisible glue that scientists say holds the universe together — and perhaps even reveal new particles or forces that once existed. There is. . (Experts note that background gravitational waves can also come from multiple sources, in which case the challenge is separating out how much came from where.)
The NANOGrav team has analyzed all the data from the worldwide collaboration of gravitational waves, with 25 years of measurements from 115 pulsars. These results will be revealed within a year or so, says Dr. Siemens, adding that he expects it to exceed the 5 sigma detection rate.
But several more years may be needed to confirm the source of the gravitational wave background. Researchers have begun using their data to compile a map of the universe and look for nearby areas of intense gravitational wave signals leading to a single binary supermassive black hole. That’s where the fun begins, says Dr. Mingarelli, who wanted to analyze the map and look for more exotic phenomena, such as galactic radiance, cosmic strings or wormholes.
“This can lead to something completely new,” says Dr. Soares Santos, compared it to the discovery of the cosmic microwave background in the 1960s, which changed physicists’ knowledge of the early universe. “We don’t know what the effect will be yet, but it will definitely be a new chapter in the book of gravitational waves. And it looks like we are watching the writing of the book.”
Denise Overby Contributed to the preparation of the report.
2023-06-29 02:52:11
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